THE NEW YORKER WHA T PRICé A F ARé WéLL TO DéSIGNS? T EN years ago, when I was just a little shaver ( shaving every . other day, instead of simply let- ting the whole thing go, as I do now), almost every other artIcle that appeared in any periodical you might pick up, from the New York Times Sunday Magazine to Gentlemen's Needlework, was entitled What Price This or What Price That: "What Price Peace?" "What Price Farm Relief?" "What Price Naval Oil Reserves?" "What Price Prohibition in Norway?" "What Price Preservation of President Mon- roe's Old Prince Street House?" "What Price U.S. Senator Grisbaum, the Man and the Public Servant?" This went on for several years. Then came the "A Farewell to" epoch: "A Farewell to Prosperity," (C.,A. Farewell to Religion," "A Farewell to Happi- ness," "A Farewell to Romance," ".L.L\. Farewell to Love," "A Farewell to Peace," "A Farewell to Security," "A Farewell to Loyalty," "A Farewell to Honor," "A Farewell to Happy Days," "A Farewel1 to President Monroe's Old Prince Street House," "A Fare- well to Senator Grisbaum, the Man and the Public Servant." (During this melancholy period there was some slight vogue for c, A Preface to" titles, but this never really took hold for the reason that people were much more interested in kissing things goodbye than in being in trod uced to things.) This went on for several years. Then, this winter, came (and if it were a snake, it would bite you) the "De- sign for" era. This will go on for sev- eral years: "Design for Leaving," " D . f L . "" D . f eSIgn or oVIng, eSIgn or Luring," "Design for Laughing," "Design for Lifting," "Design for Lowering," "Design for Lying," "De- sign for Looping/' "Design for Loaf- ing," "Design for Loping," "Design for Leaping," "Design for Limping," "Design for Preserving President Mon- roe's Old Prince Street House," etc. E ACH of these title patterns could be shown to express the public temper of its time. A graph, indeed, could be worked out representing the mental attitude of the nation during the periods involved, but it would prob- ably be left lying around and get thrown out by the cook. Suffice it, then, simply to point out that in the "What Price" days people were interested in what was going to come of everything; in the "Farewell to" days, they were apathetic about what became of any- thing; in the present "Design for" days, they are. evincing a slight revival of in- terest in planning for the future. This set of conclusions, admittedly specious, is not, however, the main point I wish to make. What has interested me most- ly in my researches (which involved going back over the files of everything, from 1880 to 1923) is that I found no title patterns at all comparable to the "What Price," "A Farewell to," and "Design for" phenomena. The only conclusion I could come to is that, al- though there were popular and famous titles of books and plays in the old days, they didn't seem to lend themselves to paraphrase. Take, for example, "Beside the Bonny Brier Bush." An article on the strategy of Lord Nelson could hard- ly have been entitled "Beside the Bonny Strategy of Lord Nelson." It would have lacked ease. The same problem seems to have come up in the case of Clyde Fitch's well-known play, "The Girl with the Green Eyes." I encoun- tered an article, printed at the time of that play's popularity, called "Rabbit Trapping in the Western Reserve." There had apparently been no effort to call it "The Girl with Rabbit Trapping in the Western Reserve" (although, of course, there was no way of being sure that there hadn't been some ef- fort). Similarly, "Little Lord Fauntle- Ipf"""'jÆ,:r-:' \;fl ;;:;:' '\ 'W -, þi;::: . & , : ' , : .: t , ": " :; , "" , : " "":,:; , ,, {'\. .::...it""',"" ,;' , w, , "jr:\' i $ -.;;';'.' . .: ':;:;-::':'i: "r '. :/ 'f -'".._..J':.-:..::..... : ::/<": ,:. <".. , .{tr::(?f.: , ><',',..' , :, ,,<j; . ; '. ;t. . .... . . :- .:.-,.... ''$-:". ........ .'. ;." .:.:. . .,é:;': :". -..=;-;.-:..-:.....-. .. .-.,. ::.,..:. ':'f . -.... A.;...' ,',', ',;t ., -"': i: .... ,', . . ' , , ; " ., .....-.; .-. ...: l {......-:.:::...: b="":: ..., .,' .,.,'.! } k '.. :;.:j:". : t::.. , ' "":' , , :*':'''r , " :J :::,: ...' ':'.,.. -. . .. ,,',.} !.%i,.\:{è ", ' SMALL FR.Y "Shh, you'll wake the kid." 13 roy" failed to leave its imprint on the pages of forgotten periodicals; there was no "Little Lord Tariff Problems of Today," no "Little Lord Alarming Increase of Scorching on the Public Highways." This un adaptability held true also for "The Memoirs of U. S. Grant," "Sherlock Holmes," "Secret Service," "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" (a specially notable in- stance), "Lucile," "The Squaw Man," etc. I DID not, it is only fair to admit, check all titles of books and plays with all titles of articles in the years be- tween 1880 and 1923. If I had, this would have been a comprehensive and important article, maybe even a stan- dard source article. The trouble was that I got to a point in my researches where I not only forgot what I was trying to prove but also what I was looking up. As a result, I spent one whole afternoon at the Public Library clipping pictures of navy officers and show girls out of back copies of Mun- sey's. They do not fit anywhere into my design for grieving over a farewell to old-fashioned titles. But I found one swell Dewey. -JAMES THURBER . VISIT ANT And have you seen Persephone (No maiden, yet not woman quite), Wrested from hell but yesterday, Restored to earth, restored to light, Lissom, lovely, young, and free- Free to rejoice, as well she may- Ah, have you seen Persephone? So strange she is, so wan and slight. She plucks a flower, she flings a ball; Peers, curious, when the blackbirds call ; Curious, pores on blossoming grass- Rescued from horror and dark alarms, Torn last night from Pluto's arms- Have you watched that lady pass? Persephone among the flowers, Persephone beneath the sun, Moves pensively through honeyed hours, Moves absently, as one aware Of life's reality otherwhere. Fleeing the hill, she haunts the glade (So bright he sun, so keen the air); Persephone seeks cedar-shade As one too wearied of much sun- Any would have sworn she said, "When will these dragging months be done!" -MUNA LEE